Rezension

Wolfgang Wolters: Architektur und Ornament.. Venezianischer Bauschmuck der Renaissance, München: C.H.Beck 2000,
Buchcover von Architektur und Ornament.
rezensiert von Christoph Strupp, History of Art and Heritage Management, University of Buckingham/ GB

For forty years Wolfgang Wolters has been researching the art of Renaissance Venice, with a particular focus on the decoration and ornamentation of buildings. Like few others he has developed a sensitivity to the many facets of and relations between architecture and ornament which form vital ingredients of Venetian Renaissance art and culture. "Architektur und Ornament" represents the scholarly manifestation of this sensitivity. It sets out to come to terms with a hitherto largely uncharted multitude of objects which form an intrinsic part of the buildings they decorate, but which, partly due to their 'minor' artistic value, have fallen between the stools of history and art history. The study of the integral articulation of architectural space in Venice has remained on the fringe of academic interest, though in recent years local, national, and international bodies in charge of the safeguarding of Venice as a world heritage site have increasingly drawn attention to this Venezia minore. (For further information on organisations in charge of the safeguard of Venice as a world heritage site, see http://www.unesco.org/whc/sites/394.htm)

In 1537 Sebastiano Serlio postulated that the architect ought to perform the role of 'ordinatore' and order the overall design and the decoration of a building; Wolters is attempting to take on this task at the level of architectural historiography. Does he succeed?

As 'ordinatore' Wolters demonstrates comparatively little interest in individual artists and their styles. Instead, the book follows a Burckhardtian approach based on attention to the objects' functions or 'tasks'. Thus, the investigation begins with a closer look at building materials and workshop organisation. From the outset it becomes clear that the author draws from a vast amount of information, drawing on a formidable knowledge of archival material which, although often published in a wide range of different contexts, has here been collated to be examined in a new light.

This sets the tone for the rest of the book which insists on its focus on materials and workmanship, the process of the making of the object and its form and function. Wolters identifies the categories of architectural ornament, in classifications which range from marble wall revetments to fresco schemes, from wrought-iron grilles to chimney pieces, from doors and windows to floors and ceilings. The categorisation further distinguishes between private and public spaces, and between secular and religious buildings. It appears that the author has sneaked into every nook and cranny of the city he knows better than many Venetians themselves. But not only has he inspected and recorded objects in virtually inaccessible locations, such as the once famous, but now forever closed Palazzo Grimani at Santa Maria Formosa, he also draws our attention to the perfectly obvious, such as the marble and terrazzo floors which pave most historic buildings in the city. Wolters attempts to bring order to the decorative arts applied to Venetian architecture, the sheer wealth of which seems to defy such a task. In a sense, the stocktaking of the material per se is one of the book's major achievements.

Chapter by chapter, the book presents groups of objects, sometimes case studies, evaluates them, and places them in context. The author backs up his nomenclature with the comments and judgements of Renaissance architects and writers: in addition to Serlio, he considers the points of view of Leonbattista Alberti, Palladio, Vitruvius (edited by Daniele Barbaro), Francesco Sansovino, Vincenzo Scamozzi, Carlo Ridolfi, and others who provided theoretical views to order the huge amount of objects Wolters is trying to evaluate.

In addition the book also addresses a series of other issues, among them the use of significance of all'antica motifs or the 'language of materials'. Wolters comments on heritage matters, such as the conservation of paintings on exterior walls. At times, there are almost too many issues which beg discussion as the stocktaking hurries on, yet the book is not an inventory and does not contain a catalogue which would have distracted from the underlying issues and deprived the reader of the fascination of discovery.

Thus, the present book is a synthesis of the itemisation of architectural ornament, whether surviving or lost, the evaluation of archival documentation, and the consideration of contemporary architectural theory.

In its synthetic summary approach, which draws attention to this heritage in danger as much as it provides incentives for further research, "Architektur und Ornament" is frustratingly brief wherever the reader wants to engage in a more detailed analysis, but it is exactly this approach which enables Wolters to come to new conclusions and allow him to provide the reader with greater insight into the stages of an architectural project. Typical of Wolters' style is the fact that the footnotes are often as interesting as the text itself. As well as documenting the author's comprehensive knowledge of even the remotest references to his subject, they often contain quotations from archival sources, and point out gaps in scholarly investigation.

Wolters' duly (and almost humbly) acknowledges his debt to Renaissance authors and to more recent scholars. Perhaps the one outstanding precedent is Pietro Paoletti's compendium of Venetian architecture, sculpture and architectural ornament, a painstakingly comprehensive assembly of documents and unrivalled first-hand knowledge, which was published in 1893 and which for more than a century has remained the unrivalled reference text for scholars of the field. (Pietro Paoletti, L'architettura e la scultura del Rinascimento a Venezia, Venice 1893).

The architectural ornament examined in this book does not (or no longer - given for instance, the deterioration of frescoes on palace facades) necessarily concern the eye-catchers of art history; their makers are not necessarily the big names of the Venetian Renaissance. Instead, many of them are part of what surrounds us everywhere on a daily basis in Venice, a low-key heritage which is often overlooked, neglected and subjected to alteration, destruction and replacement.

Thus, "Architektur und Ornament" addresses art historians, historians and heritage managers who are familiar with Venice and/or with related genres elsewhere. In some ways, it constitutes the results of forty years' thought and observation, in others it represents 'only' a starting point, hinting at the large lacunae of research into this area of Renaissance culture and our limited knowledge about these 'minor arts'. Not since Pietro Paoletti's publication of 1893 has Venetian architectural ornament received so close a look and so much intelligent discussion.


Christoph Strupp

zurück zu KUNSTFORM 2 (2001), Nr. 2

Empfohlene Zitierweise:

Christoph Strupp: Rezension von: Wolfgang Wolters: Architektur und Ornament.. Venezianischer Bauschmuck der Renaissance, München: C.H.Beck 2000
in: KUNSTFORM 2 (2001), Nr. 2,

Rezension von:

Christoph Strupp
History of Art and Heritage Management, University of Buckingham/ GB

Redaktionelle Betreuung:

Jan Mohr